Monstrous 40-foot ‘duck-billed cow’ dinosaur that roamed Earth in herds found

A GIANT duck-billed dino dubbed a “cow of the Cretaceous” that was unknown to science has been found.

The mammoth beast would’ve measured as long as 40 feet, and stomped around in herds – a bit like cattle.

It’s a brand new species of hadrosaurid, and has been named Ahshislesaurus wimani by scientists.

The creature would’ve lived around 75 million years ago, which was several million years before icons like Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops.

And its remains were found in New Mexico in the US, shedding light on the beast for the first time.

“Hadrosaurs have sometimes been colourfully called ‘the cows of the Cretaceous,” said Dr. Steven Jasinski, who worked on the discovery.

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“While this may not be a perfect metaphor, they likely were living in herds,” Dr Jasinski, of Harrisburg University of Science & Technology, continued.

“And would have been conspicuously present in the environments of northern New Mexico near the end of the Cretaceous.”

It would’ve had a large body that could’ve grown to between 35 and 40 feet long.

The dino may have weighed just over eight UK tonnes – or about six Ford Focuses.

And interestingly, it would’ve sported a flat, duckbill-shaped mouth.

These dinosaurs were found at a famous fossil location called Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah in northwestern New Mexico.

Legendary fossil collector Charles H. Sternberg visited in the early 1900s, and sent what he had excavated all around the world.

The fossil bones belonging to this new species of dinosaur were first found in 1916.

And they were found by another famous collector known as John B Reeside, Jr.

It was first described by scientists in 1935, although at the time it was linked to another hadrosaurid called Kritosaurus navajovius.

But scientists have now re-examined the fossils and discovered that they belong to an entirely new species of dino.

“Ahshislesaurus wimani is a captivating new dinosaur,” Doctor Jasinski said.

“The more we learn about these ancient animals, the more we realise there are so many more things to discover and learn.

“I can’t wait to learn more and teach others about this incredible world we are a part of.”

The creature is part of a group that includes other duck-billed dinosaurs that once roamed New Mexico, Texas, and Mecixo.

And evolutionary analysis also revealed migrations between Asia and North America when they were connected by a land bridge linking Alaska and Russia.

The dino’s main predator would likely have been the tyrannosaur Bistahieversor.

And it would’ve lived alongside lots of non-dinosaur creatures including fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, lizards, crocodylians, pterosaurs, and various mammals.

This discovery was made by a team including Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, Montana State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University.

The research will be published in the journal Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.